Like many people, my childhood was filled with fanciful stories. One of my favorites has always been The NeverEnding Story. While I don't remember having the book read to me, I remember watching the movie quite clearly, especially jumping when the windows bang open. During my trip home, my mom borrowed the movie through NetFlix and we watched it last night. While I no longer had the fear/tension watching the movie, it was great fun to watch. I still want to ride a luckdragon.

Another nice thing about being home is that I now have access to many of the books that made up my childhood library. A rare treat for me was being able to read from the illustrated children's bible my mom kept in a safe place. We also had at least two big books of nursery rhymes, Hans Christian Andersen's and Grimm's fairy tales, and Aesop's fables. My brother and I would spend hours reading these and other books and playing out many of the stories.

We also made up stories. For a long time, my parents slept on two twin beds pushed together. Whenever we played on their bed, the two beds would start to move apart. We used to pretend that it was a bed monster, trying to swallow us up. The huge yard around our house became the battlefield of many an epic battle, sometimes even involving the Greco-Roman gods. And my brother would spend hours at the library, researching medieval weapons.

I think it's incredibly important that we encourage curiosity and imagination not only in children but in adults as well. It's why even though I didn't play, I loved hosting my husband's D&D games and before that, I would sit and listen to them for hours. When I found myself no longer creating stories in my mind, I started playing. I think my mind needs the escape and the mental exercise it gets from creating these stories. I just need to find the confidence to tell others what my mind creates.

I figured it would probably be a good idea to describe Sarah since I named this blog and everything after her :-)

Sarah Darkmagic is the eldest daughter of Stephen and Enna (Moonbow) Darkmagic. Her parents were great adventurers once, working with others such as Douvan Staul and his wife, Eliza. They gave away all that they could from their earnings to help those around them and, when Sarah was born, were poor in funds but rich in friends. They decided that the adventuring life wasn't the sort of life for a little girl and, so, gave up the adventurer's life and started a traveling magic show. Stephen, coming from the great wizarding family from New Hampshire, seemed like the star of the show but in reality, most of the show depended on the technical expertise of his wife. The skills she practiced and developed as the expert lockpick of the group helped greatly in running the "magical" equipment.

The early years were hard as they didn't have a great amount of savings and such shows require a fair amount of money for equipment and components. Although they felt bad about it, they trained their young daughter Sarah how to pick pockets, making sure to target only those who could withstand having their change purse a few coins lighter. And they always did their best to get their extensive network of friends to help the poor target out, perhaps with a free room or some free refreshments at the bar.

As time went on, the popularity of their show grew and grew. About six months ago, Stephen was offered the opportunity to have a daily show in a big city. After a long discussion, the family decided that this was an excellent step forward, as it would allow Sarah's much younger siblings to have the sort of stability that they had always wanted for her. However, this left Sarah with a terrible decision. She could stay with her family, but she would have to get used to an entirely different sort of life. There would be no more traveling and they obviously wouldn't need her to steal anymore (not that she ever really liked it). Or she could leave, trying to find a her place in the world.

After careful deliberation, Sarah felt that she had to leave. Through her family, she had a wide network of friends. Besides, if she stayed, there might be a lot of pressure on her to settle down in other ways. Her family held a huge going away part for her. Her father gave her a simple locket with pictures of the family inside. But he also enchanted it, so that whenever she held it tight in her hand, she could feel the loving warmth of her family embrace her and make her feel calm. Her mother presented her with a finely made dress so that where ever the road took her, she would always have the appropriate clothes. She packed these items, some clothes and basic adventuring goods, and her never-ending journal and left early the next morning before anyone else awoke.

She was only two weeks into her travels when an urgent letter came from her mother. A good family friend, Douvan Staul, was missing and his wife was terribly worried about him. Sarah remembered the weeks spent at their place when her parents traveled to the less savory areas. She knew that she had to find him even if she had no idea how. According to the letter, the last place he was known to be was Winterhaven and that is where she went.

Last week I DMed for the first time. I've only been playing for a few weeks now, so it was pretty interesting to DM so soon but my brother is visiting in a few weeks and I volunteered to do that session. So there has been a lot of cramming going on. Currently I'm visiting my parents and am sitting here on the couch figuring out what I need to learn while he works on his character. So far I've been using these resources to prepare for the session:

I'm visiting my family this week and my brother and I decided to go to the local gaming store to see what they had in the way of dice and miniatures. It was a trip down memory lane, both good and bad. They had an Intellivision there which was my favorite game system when I was young, mostly because of the D&D video game it had. They also had a voice adapter for games like B-17 Bomber and a "computer." It was the first system I ever programmed on.

The bad had to do with the gaming group that was there. It's not really their fault. They were younger boys saying younger boy things. But it totally reminded me of why I didn't game when I was younger. My brother was really into playing. But unfortunately there wasn't always a great group of people around to play with. Often times the games would devolve into accusations of cheating. Finally, and hardest of all for me at the time, I often felt so invisible when I hung out with my geeky guy friends. Listening to them talk about this girl's chest or that girl's reputation made me feel like I didn't exist. At least when I played sports, we had stories to share about the awesome pass I caught or basket I made.

All in all, it was a good little trip down memory lane. Unfortunately I still haven't found that set of dire looking dice yet, but I'm keeping my eye out.

One of the main reasons I decided to give D&D a try was the podcast series they did, originally with the PvP and Penny Arcade folks and later with them and Wil Wheaton. Listening to the DM(s) lead Jim Darkmagic, Omin Dran and Binwin Bronzebottom through some interesting encounters was just so much fun that I figured it was finally time for me to give it a try. They recently released the last episode of the second series so I'll have to find something else to occupy my time until they do a new one. The artwork for each one is just awesome. While Jim Darkmagic is my favorite character, I really loved listening to Chris Perkins as DM.

Last night my husband and I watched the first episode of Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire. They basically act the way I wish I could when I'm playing Sarah Darkmagic. It's great thinking of them as level 1 players. I could totally see the crossbow guy accidentally hitting the fighter with bolts from time to time. Don't worry, he's a fighter, he can take it. It's not the best show ever, but it's pretty entertaining.

So, I finally did it. For about 20 years or so, someone always was trying to convince me to give D&D a try. Before college, that person was my brother who loved to spend hours in the library searching for a new weapon from the books on medieval weaponry. During college, my fraternity brothers (I was in a co-ed house) tried to persuade me to play. But the truth is, I never really felt comfortable playing a character in that world. Sure I grew up reading a lot of myths and legends but many groups really get into the world and kind of expect a greater amount of knowledge than I really have.

But that all changed when I found the D&D podcast done with the PvP and Penny Arcade folks. One of the players was brand new to the game and he decided to name his character Jim Darkmagic. Of course, he got some digs because of the name choice, but in the end, they respected it. He also did the most character development of the group, making up stories about his character as he went along. In addition to the character, the system they were playing (4th edition), seemed so much simpler than what I remember listening to when my friends played. There was slightly less dice rolling and a lot more story. I never really understood the separate spot and listen checks.

After listening through the entire first series and all of the second series ones available (with Wil Wheaton), I figured it might be worth a shot. Plus, my husband's group really needed another player. So one Wednesday after they asked me if I might consider playing a rogue, I decided to give it the old college try.

Of course, I couldn't just give in so easily, so I decided to make it a surprise. The next day I contacted the DM and asked him if he could meet with me to set up a character. I started reading the Player's Handbook during my lunch and breaks and found some online character generators to help me figure out how to fill in a character sheet. I read articles about how to make a good rogue and to prepare myself for how game play went. When the day came to meet with the DM, I was pretty prepared and my husband still had no idea of my plans. The DM and I agreed that it would make sense for the elf ranger in the party to 'find' me.

On the night of the game, I was incredibly nervous. Most of all, I really wanted my husband to be surprised. They took awhile to settle down for the game, but when they finally did, I listened intently for my cue. I heard the DM ask the elf to do a spot check. I was heard (I've got to learn to use stealth more often) and the DM said, "It's Sarah's turn." I enter the dining room and say "Damn, looks like I missed all the action again." My husband looks at me with a look that says, I know you are speaking. Why are you speaking and why doesn't it make sense. I then say, "Where are my manners, my name is Sarah." It takes a few more seconds to sink in and we all have a good time laughing.

Of course, I'm much better of thinking of these scenarios than I am playing the role playing part of the game. But I'm sure I will learn. I just get so self-conscious when speaking in a group of people, particularly about something that I don't know very well. But they seem to be a patient group of guys. We'll see how it goes.

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